The present invention relates to a die for the production of a coating which can be bonded to a sheet-like substrate, in particular a leather or a textile material, such as a nonwoven, woven fabric or knitted fabric, and is formed by application of a plastic dispersion to the die surface consisting of hydrophobic flexible plastic and subsequent solidification of the liquid plastic dispersion.
It is known that the top of a leather, in particular a grain leather buffed on its grain side, but also a split leather, and a textile material can be provided with a coating having a grain structure so that the visible side thereof has the required properties and possesses a leather-like appearance. For this purpose, a coating or finish is first produced separately on an underlay which has a surface structure to correspond to the grain structure of the finish to be produced, and is then bonded to the substrate. In the production of this finish, a plastic dispersion is applied to the die surface consisting of hydrophobic material and then allowed to solidify by supplying heat. If the finish is to have a suede-like or velvet-like appearance, it has already been proposed to use, for the production of this finish, a die whose surface has a structure which corresponds to the suede-like or velvet-like structure of the finish to be produced. The surface of the die can be formed, for example, by casting the visible side of an existing nubuk leather. Finishes produced in this manner have the disadvantage that the fibers forming the suede effect bend over even at very low pressure and remain in this position until they are brought mechanically into an upright position again or are brought into another position.